#afpfc What Road Will Get You There: Your Development Plan

Real issue seems to be writing a plan that actually works. If you don’t have the right things in the plan and it doesn’t match your life cycle then you have a road map to nowhere.

Meaningful access to board, determines success or limitations. Do board members have the true depth of understanding of what we are talking about in the first place?

Why are so many people in the baby pool?

Giving board work that they are not competent, qualified and prepared to do. Dev plans must include the proper training.

Present budgets in such a way that indicates which streams pay for what. The dev plan is the ending plan not starting. You have to have a strategic plan in place. The strategic plan is a board responsibility. You can never create a dev plan until you have strategic plan because it is emeshed in it.

Marketing and communications planning highlighted.

Rethink board teams i.e. event planning, giving, corporate sponsorship. She has a paper she wrote on teams. Email her for a copy.

If you are raising funds for something not approved, it’s not in sync.

Need to understand where philanthropy fits in everything. See org characteristics, where are you?

Three levels – Fundraising tactics

Level 1 fundraising – where we are missionary, we have a list to find people who want to be donors, mass marketing like a special event, yelling what they out to love

Level 2 donors impt., internalize concept of asking donors what excited about, invites them to the US what they’ve, segmented aporoaches, cultivation activities, someone realizes everyone has to be on development team, Ed and board chair realize importance of everyone being on team, small donor team management.

Degree of success is in direct relations to seeing fundraising as impt as programing

Level 3 everyone realizes they are part of fundraising team, if donor relations matched everyone is happier, one on one donor management becomes significant. Major prospecting, don’t let board over commit, just rake on few. See donors as investors.

Board engagement very impt, a year round thinking process about what we need and how we can involve others to get. Work through governance process.

1 Fundraising
2 Development
3 Advancement governance/philanthropy, find the 1 – 2 ppl who get it and will be natural allies.

Download free Nonprofit Fundraising Survey 2015 coming out soon.

Cultivation, stewardship most positively affects success. Dev tactics used, can’t do them all esp small shops – see slides.
Data helpful if looking for credible source that shows trends. See role of boards in fundraising slide.

AFP Code of Ethics
Donor Bill of Rights

“If you don’t know where you are going any road will get you there.”

Question to ask today: What is working for you today at a best practice level?

Do you have all of the back office infrastructure in place to execute all you need to do?